Leongatha will be vying for its first senior premiership in 14 years when it meets Traralgon in today’s TRFM Gippsland League grand final.
Remarkably neither team featured in last year’s finals series.
For first year coach Beau Vernon, leading his side to the big one is a dream come true.
“It was probably in my dreams - you don’t put a cap on what you can achieve, that’s the goal and I was hoping for it, but I didn’t think about it too much,” Vernon said.
It comes little more than three years after an on-field clash changed his life; leaving him a quadriplegic.
However the incident in June 2012 wasn’t the end of Vernon’s football career.
He was the stand out applicant for the coaching job at the club he loves and in his first year he has managed to turn things around; Leongatha has gone from finishing well outside the top five last year, to a minor premiership and a grand final berth.
Vernon’s beloved Parrots take on Traralgon for the chance at premiership glory and coaches across the competition have their money on Leongatha.
If their most recent encounter is anything to go by, Saturday’s grand final will be a blockbuster, but Vernon was quick to put the pressure back on his opponent.
“I suppose there is more pressure on them than us considering they beat us last weekend,” he said.
“We are confident. I am not saying Traralgon played at their best, but we only played one quarter of footy and we lost by nine points.”
Leongatha will be bolstered by the return of Aaron Heppell, brother of Essendon star Dyson, who has missed the past six weeks due to VFL commitments.
However, with the Bombers knocked out last weekend, he’ll be back to play his role for the Parrots.
Heppell’s inclusion won’t come without its headaches, though, with the coach having to make room for him.
“It’s going to be really tough … we had 21 really solid contributors on the weekend,” he said.
“He is really a really good, quality player, a star player.”
Like Vernon, the man at the helm of the Maroons, Mark Collison, is in his first year as senior coach.
He too will have his work cut out at the selection table.
“It is not nice but it’s just a part of it. Obviously some blokes will miss out, it’s definitely the hardest part about coaching, but I’d rather be here making those decisions, than not,” Collison said.
Despite suffering a knee injury early in the finals series, another VFL player, Matt Northe, is also available for selection.
Collison’s side overcame an injury-plagued first half of the season to finish third on the ladder.
“It’s been tough all year – early on we were riddled with injuries, however it showed how good our depth is. We have lots of good players in the twos … there will be the hard luck stories but our twos are in as well, as well as thirds and fourths which is fantastic for the footy club,” Collison said.
After a shocking opening round, made worse by injury and illness, many had written Traralgon off after a 123-point loss to Leongatha.
“I suppose people haven’t put much attention on us (and) didn’t think we could come this far. But we always thought we’d get here,” Collison said.
The coach said his continually improving side still had a way to go to secure the club its 20th senior premiership.
“It’s a bit funny we still think we have improvement in us – we are getting things together which is a really good sign, however the past two weeks we have shown so much improvement, we just have to be confident, play the way we play, implement it and we will get the job done,” he said.
“We think we have done everything right … we have been really happy with our preparation.”
Traralgon will have the home ground advantage, however Collison said he would be happy to play the grand final anywhere.
“All the grounds are pretty similar, I don’t think there is much difference between our ground and Moe’s… if we had to play at the beach we would,” he said.
And Collison knows a lot of the attention will be on his South Gippsland counterpart.
“Beau’s has been one of the stories of the year, but by the same token we want to make our own story – we want to make history ourselves as a side that comes from outside the finals and win, in a year people didn’t think we could,” Collision said.
“Outside perception isn’t a big thing for us, we don’t care what people think.”
Vernon will face a tough task in keeping the excitement at bay across in Leongatha.
“Obviously there is plenty of hype, (but) just excitement, everyone is really happy,” Vernon said.
“To get from where we were last year and to have given ourselves a chance at winning a flag this year is an amazing achievement, but there is still four quarters of footy to go.
“Hopefully we can play the brand footy we know we can play.”
Last Modified on 24/09/2015 09:30